1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to cabinet drawers generally and, more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a novel two-track drawer slide which functions as a three-track slide.
2. Background Art
Modern cabinet drawers typically have slide mechanisms on either side of each drawer to support the drawer and to provide smooth opening and closing of the drawer as the drawer is withdrawn from and slid into the cabinet.
In its basic form, a modern drawer slide of such type includes first horizontal tracks fixed to the cabinet frame on either side of the cabinet opening for each drawer. Corresponding second horizontal tracks are fixed to either side of each drawer for the engagement of the first tracks by the second tracks and movement of the drawer in and out of the cabinet. In some cases, it is necessary that the drawer fully extend from the cabinet; that is, with the back wall of the drawer disposed outwardly of the front wall of the cabinet when the drawer is fully withdrawn from the cabinet, yet still supported therein. An example of such requirement is where the drawer includes a box with a lid and full withdrawal of the drawer is required so that the lid can be opened and tilted backwardly slightly so that materials in the box can be accessed without having to continuously manually hold the lid open. This requires that the second horizontal tracks extend rearwardly from the back wall of the box such that the second tracks will engage the first tracks sufficiently to support the drawer in fully extended position. This consumes an unnecessary volume of unused space in the rear of the cabinet when the drawer is fully closed.
In a further development, a third set of tracks is provided telescopingly between the first and second sets of tracks so that the drawer can be fully extended as above, but without the necessity of creating unused space. While this arrangement is satisfactory, insofar as the operation of the drawer is concerned, a relatively large number of parts is required, with the concomitant more costly manufacturing cost.
A further disadvantage of conventionally constructed cabinet drawer slide mechanisms is that spot welding is employed during the manufacture thereof. This requires subsequent priming and painting steps which are relatively costly and somewhat unsatisfactory when working with assembled parts.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a cabinet drawer slide mechanism that is simple in construction, yet permits a drawer to be fully withdrawn from the cabinet in open position without requiring excessive unused volume in the rear of the cabinet.
It is a further object of the invention to provide such a drawer slide mechanism that is economically manufactured.
It is more specifically an object of the invention to provide such a drawer slide mechanism in which a two-track slide functions as a three-track slide.
It is an additional object of the invention to provide a construction technique for drawer slides that eliminates the spot welding conventionally employed.
Other objects of the present invention, as well as particular features, elements, and advantages thereof, will be elucidated in, or be apparent from, the following description and the accompanying drawing figures.